Friday Coffee & Bookish Speaks – Selling ARCs

byJessicaonAugust 26, 2016

I’m back home today! Drinking my fresh roasted coffee with cream!

What are you drinking?

I was reading someone’s blog post when I was inspired by this post. Let me first start out by saying I WOULD NEVER! I feel like getting ARC’s (advanced readers copies) is a huge honor. Like someone is letting you hold their newborn baby! They are trusting you with their book baby. There is an agreement that you will not sell or distribute the author’s content. You get ARC’s to do reviews help the author out while you get the benefit of being one of the first to read the story.

The reason I am even bringing this up today is I accidently bought an ARC from a used bookstore. I didn’t notice until I got home that it was an ARC! I don’t regret buying it because I will handle it with the proper care the previous owner should have. I won’t sell it. If I don’t want to keep it I will pass it along to one you, my readers who I trust will also handle with care. I’m not sure if I would have bought it had I been paying attention. It goes against principle, for me. The person shouldn’t have sold it.

On the other hand, I got the book off the market, though it shouldn’t have been there in the first place. So there is that. I can’t go buying everybody’s mistakes it would cause me to go broke!

So it worked out in this instance, but if I am faced with this problem again I’m not sure if I would buy it or not. Being that it was on the shelf it had already been sold, I think I might buy the ARC to get it off the market. It will depend on a lot of factors. Hopefully, it does not happen again.

I am disappointed that this is even an issue. I assume the copy belonged to a book blogger or librarian. Who else gets ARCs? To that person, I say shame on you! You are giving reviewers a bad rap. You are the reason authors have to put disclaimers on their books.

As a writer, I appreciate the hard work that goes behind making original content. That’s why I have respect for other peoples work and I don’t share. That copy was given to me like I said it’s an honor and I appreciate it.

Related

It could have been an ARC that a reader won on a blog or even Goodreads. I mean, not a lot of people outside of the blogging world know what ARC stands for even what it actually means. I mean, if they won a book, didn’t care for it or don’t hold onto books, had no one to give it to, then I could see them giving it a store, library, or donating it in the hopes of someone else finding use for it. Before my move I had a ton of books that had been collecting in my trunk of goodies for giveaways. There was no way I had the time or money to host a ton of giveaways while I was preparing to move. So I donated them all (some were ARC’s) to a local thrift store/soup kitchen. I explained to the volunteer accepting the stuff that there were some ARC’s in there and that I figured they could hand them out to people interested, leave them out at the soup kitchen, or the volunteers could have them, but I’m not 100% sure they knew what I was talking about. They very well may have put it up for sale. :\

However, there are some people out there who know better when it comes to ARC’s and still try to make money by selling them online. It’s sad and frustrating. As a buyer, I don’t want to pay full price or even inflated costs for a “rare” ARC of a book that could have potentially changed by the time it was published and isn’t even bound properly to last for a long time.

So yeah, I see what you’re saying but for the person who gave it to the bookstore, they may not have really known all the drama behind the ARC. LoL And, depending on which store you got it from, if it’s like the thrift store I donated to, the person may have hoped the ARC would be given away to those who can’t afford to purchase a book but still want to read. I’ve even tried donating my ARC’s to the library in hopes that they would put them out in a freebie table or whatever for anyone interested but they wouldn’t accept them.

Yeah I see your point. Giving them away is a great idea especially to people who can’t afford them. That’s really nice of you to donate them and explain what they are. You were not intending to sell them. This ARC came from a really well-known bookstore in Portland called Powells it was for profit. You are right you never know what all the circumstances were maybe the person didn’t know what an ARC was. But for those who do…

I was at a bookstore recently and saw an ARC on their shelf…. when I took it up to the register I told them they weren’t supposed to sell it and they gave me the biggest attitude. They were like– yeah well, we’ll check on that. And I could totally tell they were going to put it back on the shelf right after I left. BLAH!! I can see someone who isn’t in the book community not realizing (even though it explicitly SAYS not for resale) it, but the bookstore should know better!!Michelle @ Pink Polka Dot Books recently posted…ARC August– Wrap-up Post